The Quest for an Office

With most of the intangible aspects taken care of, i.e. the company’s name, tagline and website, and with a lot of great ideas in mind, it was time to look for a workshop where we could put those ideas to work.  We were looking for a decent-sized space in a good location.  After a lot of discussion, we narrowed down on three locations within Chennai: Royapettah, Egmore and Periamet.  Next, we had to zoom in from three to one.  There was another round of discussion and polls and we finally decided on Egmore.

What tilted the balance in Egmore’s favor was its central location, proximity to shopping malls (Spencer Plaza, Alsa Mall, and Fountain Plaza) and other major business houses in the area.  We found a terrace apartment on Marshalls Road across Rajarathnam Stadium, which was located on a private road and had a convenient parking facility.  So that was it!  Without wasting any time, we signed up for it.

But, it was essentially a residential terrace apartment and it was up to us to transform it into a functional office.  We had multiple brainstorming sessions to come up with ideas for designing the studio office.  Initially, the idea was to simply paint the place and put in some functional furniture and equipment because anything beyond that seemed cost-prohibitive.  But, when we deliberated over it, we realized that unless the place was light, fun and comfortable, people won’t be able to put their creative minds to work.

Our Chief Strategy Officer, Syed R, played a key role in providing great ideas in terms of the layout and patterns of the furniture and fittings.  Syed is experienced in working on similar interior design projects and his inputs were extremely valuable.  With these ideas in mind, we approached Sheetal Srinivas, a professional architect to help us design our studio office.  Sheetal came up with great ideas and provided us with a comprehensive office design plan.  In addition, Sheetal also assisted us in procuring the right materials and fittings.

So, our studio office had three “phases” – (1) project room, (2) reception and (3) outdoor.  The entire setup took us almost four months.  We started with the floor work, and followed it with the whitewashing of the walls for which we used a basic off-white color.  The next stage was incorporating a false ceiling with built-in lights.  We also used wooden panels in the ceiling and walls to give a rustic touch.  Then, we needed to customize it making it truly a “D-360” zone.  So, amidst the wooden panel, we added out signage within a glass window.

The D-360 team used to touch base regularly during the setup, which enables us to identify bottlenecks and issues on a timely basis and resolve them ASAP.  For the entrance to the terrace, we decided to have a glass door with our tagline embossed on it.  This was done after much deliberation since we were a little concerned with safety issues given that it was, after all, a glass door.  But since we used a Teflon-coated glass door, we were reassured that it was safe.  That completed the basic setup of the studio office.

Next, we furnished the space with tables, chairs, sofas and bean bags, and also incorporated the air conditioners, computers, wall frames and other accessories.  That was it!  After four months of tireless efforts, we had our studio office.

We don’t need no thought control

In an earlier post “A Thoughtful Tagline”, we gave a sneak peek into the meaning of our tagline.  Now, get ready for a deep dive…

The credit for coming up with this tagline goes to the company’s COO – Imran, who drew inspiration from “The Wall”, a 1979 rock opera by Pink Floyd.

“We don’t need no thought control” encapsulates everything that is at the core of our business.  Everything in life stems from inspiration in one form or another.  Michelangelo said “In every block of marble, I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action.  I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it“.  We thought it would be good if we include caricatures of people who inspire us.  So, from left to right, we have Piyush Pandey, Mark Zuckerberg, Charlie Chaplin, Steve Jobs and David Ogilvy.  And here’s why they are so special….

·                    Piyush Pandey: Often referred to as the Godfather of Indian Advertising, Piyush Pandey is the Executive Chairman and National Creative Director of Ogilvy & Mather India.  Piyush Pandey has won over 600 awards for advertising globally and his major ad campaigns include Cadbury Dairy Milk’s “Kuch khaas hai”, Asian Paints’ “Har ghar kuch kehta hai”, and Kinetic Luna’s “Chal meri Luna”.  In addition, Piyush Pandey spearheaded the Incredible India campaigns and was the lyricist of the patriotic song “Mile sure mera tumhara”.

·                    Mark Zuckerberg: At the helm of the smoking-hot social networking site Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg’s life resembles a movie script.  Initially launched as a “photo address book”, Facebook now has more than 800 million users, and helps people connect with long-lost buddies and distant family.  Mark Zuckerberg, at age 27, has a personal net worth of $17.5 billion and TIME Magazine named him Person of the Year in 2010.  The very fact that most of you are reading this blog through your Facebook account is testimony to Mark Zuckerberg’s achievement.

·                    Charlie Chaplin: A day without laughter is a day wasted.  This is as simple as it gets, and this was Charlie Chaplin’s philosophy.  A superstar of the silent-film era, Charlie Chaplin entertained audiences with his mime, slapstick and visual comic talent.  Charlie Chaplin was always in pursuit of improvisation and perfectionism and was a very demanding filmmaker.  People still fondly remember his iconic character in Little Tramp.

·                    Steve Jobs: The charismatic pioneer of the Apple revolution, Steve Jobs took personal computing to a whole new level with the iPods, the iPhones, the iPads and the Macs.  A demanding perfectionist and trendsetter, Steve Jobs revolutionized not one, but several industries such as computing, telecommunications, music and movies.  Steve Jobs believed in selling dreams, not products and urged everyone to stay hungry and stay foolish.  He said “when you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it.  You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back”.

·                    David Ogilvy: Proclaimed by TIME magazine as the most sought-after wizard in the advertising industry, David Ogilvy was the Chairman of Ogilvy & Mather, a leading advertising agency based in Manhattan.  Some of his famous advertising campaigns were for Dove, Rolls-Royce, Shell, Schweppes, American Express, Gillette, Kraft, Mattel, Nestle and Unilever.  Ogilvy believed that the best way to get new clients was to do exceptional work for existing clients.  David Ogilvy said, “the best ideas come as jokes; make your thinking as funny as possible”.

So, go ahead and unleash your creativity.  You, like us, don’t need no thought control !!!